Airbus to onboard Artifical Intelligence in French armed forces' information systems

The French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA) has awarded Airbus Defence and Space a framework contract valued at up to €50 million to integrate artificial intelligence technologies into the weapons, information, communication and cybersecurity systems used by the French armed forces.

The agreement covers information systems provided by Airbus Defence and Space as well as Airbus Helicopters. Under this contract, Airbus and the DGA will work closely with the Ministerial Agency for Defence AI (AMIAD), established in May 2024 to ensure France maintains sovereignty in critical AI technologies and reduces reliance on foreign solutions. The initiative forms part of the Ministry of Armed Forces’ wider AI strategy, which aims to accelerate the use of trusted, mission-ready AI across military operations.

The first phase of the programme will enhance the capabilities of Spationav, France’s national maritime surveillance system. New AI-enabled functions will automate the fusion of data from satellite assets and Spationav, improving situational awareness and accelerating decision-making for maritime operations.

Additional applications are also under evaluation in areas such as intelligence, cybersecurity and connectivity — including AI-driven, real-time optimisation of military telecommunications networks.

With sensors proliferating across satellites, radars, drones, smartphones and social platforms, the volume of data available to defence operators has grown exponentially. AI is increasingly essential to process this information rapidly and reliably, enabling operators to focus on mission-critical tasks while also performing functions that exceed human capacity due to the scale or urgency involved. A key challenge will be ensuring that the underlying infrastructure can store, organise and secure the vast datasets required to power these AI capabilities.

This new contract underscores Airbus’s role as a strategic partner to the French Ministry of Armed Forces and highlights France’s commitment to deploying sovereign, high-performance AI solutions to strengthen operational advantage across domains.